Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Garden of Awesome

It's been far too long since I used my beloved Sarah Kramer cookbooks. The Garden of Vegan was actually my first vegan cookbook. I wrote an email to the publishing company requesting a catalog of their books because I'd seen one at work. In the email, I mentioned how excited I was to order The Garden of Vegan. And to my surprise, the whole book was in my mailbox a few weeks later — for free!

I wasn't even vegan then, just vegetarian. But I remember being quite inspired by the healthy recipes. Back then (somewhere around 2002), I was living on Ramen noodles, mac & cheese, and frozen pizzas. Fast forward to 2009. Flipping through my much-neglected, well-worn copy of Garden, I stumbled upon the recipe for Awesome Asian Noodle Salad:

Now, this isn't really the kind of dish that needs a recipe. But I probably wouldn't have thought it up on my own. Thanks to Sarah Kramer, it'll be going in my regular repertoire. I subbed flavored tempeh for the tofu in the recipe ... just because. The noodles are soba, and the mushrooms are baby bella. The sauce is a simple mix of rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and fresh ginger.

A word on the tempeh: I used those new Lightlife Ginger Teriyaki Tempehtations — pre-cubed, flavored tempeh. It was tasty, but not really worth the $4 I paid for the teensy package (and that was on sale ... regular Whole Foods price was $5!). Next time, I'll marinate some plain tempeh and save a few bucks.

In case you didn't notice the Vegan Mofo banner to the right, I'm participating this year! Yea! It's my first year actually getting around to signing up. For those who don't know, Vegan Mofo stands for Vegan Month of Food. For the third October in a row, hundreds of vegan food bloggers are pledging to post as much as possible throughout the month.

I pledge to post every weekday in October (with the exception of Oct. 23-28 cause I'll be on vacation in New Orleans!). I typically post most weekdays anyway, so I don't think it'll be too much of a challenge. The real challenge will be keeping up with all the other Mofo-ers. For a full list or to sign up, go to Kittee's Cake Maker to the Stars blog.

so awesome on getting The Garden of Vegan for free a while back. i don't have that cookbook, but i think i've gotta add it to my wishlist now! :) i remember my ramen, mac 'n cheese, and frozen pizza days - i think i ate a lot of cheap bean 'n cheese burritos back then, too. eek! the asian noodle salad looks so pretty, and i love that you subbed in tempeh. tempeh is a staple in our home as we cannot get enough of it. i just love the flavor & texture - it rocks!

What a great thing to do, that "MoFo". Maybe I'll be able to participate next year iffin I get my blog out of the kitchen closet and onto the hallowed halls of Vegan-ness on the InterNet. "Garden"...another cookbook to add to my shelf - thanks!(Vegan Planet is on my list, too). Back in the beginning, as a Vegetarian, one of my staples was the cheese sandwich. I think we all were in a transitory limbo of sorts, especially in the very early 90s as it seemed there were few resources for the curious and willing Vegan-minded. The first time I took a stab at being Vegan was disasterous, now...it's just down right exhilerating with all the recipe blogs, websites, and the cookbooks just waiting for us in which to discover and partake.

I don't own one single Sarah Kramer book. I just now realize that this is a mistake. I can't wait to read all your MoFo posts.By the way, I think I am getting Raw Foosd Made Easy, too. Thank you for the suggestion.

I'm glad to hear that the Tempehtations aren't so great before I forked out the big bucks! I was just contemplating the purchase today but decided against it because I have some plain tempeh that needs to be used up. Maybe I'll make this dish- the dressing sounds awesome and super easy!

Add me to the list of people that need to get the sarah kramer boooks- for the titles alone! I've known about them for a long time now, have even stood in the checkout line with How it all Vegan, but have refrained out of frugality. Time I cut that out!

That noodle dish looks awesome too!

Oh, and I haven't checked in on you in the last couple days. The Dalai Lama! Are you serious!?! Congratulations, chosen one.

How It All Vegan was my first vegan cookbook! Even when I was just veg I loved the vegan lasagna from that cookbook. And when I went vegan I loved the super simple recipes. Those noodles look really good, I'm totally going to make them.